By Super Nervous
Executive summary: The new crown pneumonia epidemic still plagues countries around the world, and medical staff working on the frontline are facing huge risks and pressures. In order to solve the infection problem and improve work efficiency, automated nucleic acid detection equipment came into being.
Keywords: nucleic acid detection, self-sampling, automated detection
Nucleic acid testing, a once unfamiliar medical term, has now become one of the hot words of the year.
On the battlefield of the fight against the epidemic, the medical staff responsible for nucleic acid testing is one of the closest to the virus, and is a warrior who "holds" the virus. They have to bear great risks of infection and psychological pressure at work.
During the outbreak of the epidemic, the sampling personnel will sample hundreds or even thousands of cases at most every day
Medical staff who stick to the front line, even if fully armed, still cannot avoid infection 100%. According to the CDC report, more than 3,000 medical staff in China have been infected with the new coronavirus. And there are tens of thousands of medical staff in the world who have not escaped the fate of being infected.
In response to this situation, medical and scientific research institutions are actively developing automated solutions to reduce the risk of cross-infection among medical staff from the source.
In the future, the arduous and glorious task of nucleic acid detection can be handed over to these lovely machines.
Fully self-service nucleic acid sampling machine, do it yourself in 5 minutes
On November 11, at the high-tech fair opened in Shenzhen, a "self-service sampling machine for nucleic acid detection" attracted many visitors.
According to reports, this self-service sampling machine can realize intelligent, all-weather, unattended nucleic acid throat swab sampling.
The equipment was developed by Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University
The processing chamber is equipped with a full exhaust negative pressure system and a UV disinfection system to avoid sample contamination
The first step of self-sampling: identification
First of all, before sampling, the sampled person first conducts personal identification information registration through face recognition.
After the computer reads and authenticates the identity information of the sampled person, it immediately obtains a unique ID, and the entire sampling process thereafter is associated with this ID, avoiding the possibility of errors in manual operations.
Self-service sampling step 2: throat swab sampling
After the identity registration is completed, the sampled person can receive a special sampling tool and mouth opener, and then under the video guidance, accurately find the effective sampling site of the throat swab, and collect qualified samples, and then the robot will automatically collect, package and save the samples Special equipment.
If the collection is not in place, the sample may be invalid. Therefore, in order to ensure the authenticity and effectiveness of sampling , the autonomous sampling machine can obtain samples of four effective parts at one time. The sampling tool will automatically trigger the swab to rotate after the swab reaches the sampling area to ensure that epithelial cells are collected.
1. Identification
2. Receive sampling tools
3. Throat swab sampling
Swipe right to view the self-service sampling process
At present, the self-service sampling machine for nucleic acid detection takes about 5 to 8 minutes for single-person sampling, and it can meet the requirements of single sampling and mixed sampling (single sampling means that one person’s sample is in a single collection tube, and mixed sampling is a collection of multiple samples. In 1 collection tube, the purpose of mixed collection is to improve detection efficiency).
The R&D staff stated that the nucleic acid self-service sampling machine can complete nucleic acid sampling all day and night without being on duty. A variety of models adapt to different usage scenarios and are widely used. It is a weapon for rapid large-scale sampling. It will be used in customs and hospitals in the future. , Putting into use in the outbreak area.
Nucleic acid extraction, amplification, on-machine testing, packaged and delivered to the machine
Nucleic acid detection involves multiple steps, and sampling is only the first step.
After sampling, the extraction and detection of nucleic acids is still a major project. From sample collection to feedback of results, multiple steps such as inactivation, transfer, nucleic acid extraction, reagent reaction, and result determination are required. During this period, the risks faced by inspectors are still high.
In the traditional way, multiple manual operations are required throughout the process
Therefore, since the outbreak of the epidemic, many scientific research institutions and medical equipment manufacturers at home and abroad have successively developed automatic nucleic acid detectors, which not only improve the detection efficiency, but also enable relevant medical personnel to be effectively protected.
Taking the new coronavirus nucleic acid automatic detector developed by the scientific research team of Harbin Institute of Technology as an example, it can automate the entire process of nucleic acid extraction, amplification reaction, RT-PCR system configuration and result reporting.
The first step of automatic detection: nucleic acid extraction
Nucleic acid extraction is the first and most critical step of molecular diagnostic experiments. Traditional methods mainly include phenol extraction, alkaline lysis, etc., which include operations such as precipitation and centrifugation, which require a large amount of biological samples, and the extraction steps are complicated, time-consuming and laborious, and the yield is not high.
Automated extraction equipment accelerates this process, increasing efficiency by dozens of times. The existing equipment basically takes about 70 samples per hour at the same time, and individual equipment can even take more than 140 samples. Moreover, each operator can operate 1-3 pieces of equipment at the same time, which greatly reduces the intensity of manual work.
Automatic detection step 2: RT-PCR on-board detection
This step mainly uses a fluorescent quantitative PCR instrument. This type of equipment is already a very mature testing equipment, and the testing time is similar to the testing throughput. Basically, the number of equipment can be increased to meet the needs of large-scale screening.
A common fluorescent quantitative PCR instrument, with 2 units as a group, can detect 192 samples in one round, and it takes about two hours.
1. Nucleic acid extraction
2. RT-PCR on-board testing
3. Output test report
Swipe right to view the automatic detection process
At present, various scientific research institutions are still continuously improving automated nucleic acid detection programs, striving for more convenient, fast and accurate epidemic monitoring. In the future, it will only take tens of minutes to transfer samples into the equipment to report the results.
At the moment when the new crown virus has not been eliminated, these automated equipment will provide a strong guarantee for the prevention and control of sudden epidemics and normalization. Those medical staff who are sticking to the front line to fight the epidemic can finally take off their tired suits and relax.
By the way, in June this year, the robotics engineer team of the University of Southern Denmark in Denmark also developed an automatic throat swab sampling device. As shown in the figure below, would you dare to try it?
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